Japan Decides Not to Raise Cap on Nuclear Compensation Funds

August 7, 2018

Tokyo- The Japan Atomic Energy Commission has approved a government plan to maintain the current cap of 120 billion yen on funds nuclear plant operators must secure to finance compensation payments in the event of a nuclear accident.

The plan was included in a final draft of a report on the review of the country's nuclear accident compensation system adopted Monday at a meeting of an experts panel of the commission.

The commission stopped short of raising the cap, despite calls for a hike that increased due to huge compensation costs after the March 2011 accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Fukushima No. 1 plant.

The commission also decided to maintain nuclear plant operators' current unlimited liability for compensation that is stipulated in the law on compensation for damage from nuclear accidents.

The government will start seeking public comments on the draft report as early as this week. The report will be finalized at a panel meeting in October at the earliest.

Under the law, nuclear plant operators are obliged to secure up to 120 billion yen through insurance or compensation contracts with the government to prepare for a possible nuclear accident.

At Monday's meeting, an education and science ministry official said it is difficult to raise the amount given the levels justified under global insurance market standards.

The panel also called on the government to create a system to extend state loans to nuclear plant operators so that they would be able to provide provisional compensation payments to people affected by a nuclear accident more quickly.

At the meeting, Fukui Governor Issei Nishikawa, a member of the panel, said the central government should make clearer its responsibility for ensuring damage payments to affected people as its basic energy policy shows its intention to continue using nuclear power. Jiji Press